Learn Hardcore Ukrainian: Попри пізню годину, пральна машина працює тихо. - Despite the late hour, the washing machine works quietly.

Попри means “despite / in spite of” and it governs the accusative case. That’s why you see пізню годину (accusative feminine singular) rather than the nominative пізня година. Adjectives agree with the noun in case, number, and gender: пізню (adj.) + годину (noun), both accusative feminine singular.

Why is it пізню годину and not пізня година?

Because попри requires the accusative. The base form is пізня година (nominative), but after попри it changes to пізню годину (accusative). The adjective пізній becomes пізню in fem. acc. sg., and година becomes годину in fem. acc. sg.

Can I replace попри with незважаючи на or всупереч?

Незважаючи на is a very common synonym and also takes the accusative: незважаючи на пізню годину.
Всупереч is similar in meaning but takes the dative: всупереч пізній годині. Register/feel: попри is concise and slightly formal/literary; незважаючи на is neutral and very frequent; всупереч can feel a bit stronger (“contrary to”).

Is the comma after the introductory phrase necessary?

Yes. When a concessive prepositional phrase like Попри пізню годину stands at the beginning, it is set off by a comma. If you move it to the end, a comma is usually not used: Пральна машина працює тихо попри пізню годину. You may add a comma at the end position only for emphasis or to mark it as more parenthetical.

Can I move the concessive phrase to another position?

Yes:

Fronted (given): Попри пізню годину, пральна машина працює тихо.
End position: Пральна машина працює тихо попри пізню годину. Both are correct; fronting the phrase highlights the concession more strongly.

Is it okay to say Пральна машина тихо працює instead of …працює тихо?

Yes. Both word orders are natural. …працює тихо is the neutral, default order; …тихо працює puts a bit more focus on how it works (quietly).

Why is it тихо and not тиха?

Because you’re modifying the verb (працює), so you need an adverb: тихо (“quietly”). Тиха is an adjective (“quiet” as a property of a noun), e.g., тиха машина (“a quiet machine”).

Does працює mean “works” or “is working”?

Both. Ukrainian present tense covers both English simple and continuous meanings. Працює can mean “works/operates” (generally) or “is working/operating” (right now), depending on context. Here, it means the machine is operating and it does so quietly.

Is пральна машина the standard way to say “washing machine”? Any informal alternatives?

Yes, пральна машина is the standard term. Informally, people often say пралка or пральна машинка. All are widely understood; пралка is the most colloquial.

Is стиральна машина acceptable in Ukrainian?

Avoid it. Стиральна машина is a Russism. Standard Ukrainian uses пральна машина. (The verb is прати “to wash.”)

How do gender and agreement work in пральна машина?

Машина is feminine, so the adjective must be feminine nominative singular: пральна (not пральний). The subject of the sentence is пральна машина, so both words are in nominative case.

Any pronunciation tips for tricky letters here?

х in тихо is [kh], like German “Bach” or Scottish “loch.”
г in годину is a voiced [h] ([ɦ]), not [g]. Ukrainian ґ is [g], but that letter isn’t in this sentence.
працює is “prats-yu-ye”: ц = [ts], ю = [yu], є = [ye].
и (as in попри, годину, тихо) is a short, central-ish vowel—not the English “ee.”

Could I say пізній час instead of пізня година?

You could say попри пізній час, and it’s grammatically fine (accusative masculine). However, пізня година is more idiomatic in Ukrainian for “the late hour.” Another natural option is попри пізню пору (“despite the late time/season/time of day”).

Can попри be used before a clause?

Yes, use the pattern попри те, що … (“despite the fact that …”). Example pattern: Попри те, що пізно, … Then you put a comma after те because it introduces a subordinate clause with що.